Cameron Heyward stood up slowly after taking a helmet to the leg last Sunday night, a painful hit while sprinting 40-plus yards downfield chasing the ball.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 36-year-old defensive lineman, playing in his 15th season, shook it off, a relief for the young guys playing next to him.
“He scared me with that,” said third-year teammate Keeanu Benton, who is 12 years younger than Heyward. “ ‘Old man get up. We need you.’ That just shows his resiliency and his want to and will to come out here and work at his age. And I think he’s still got some more in the tank.”
Heyward, amid another award-winning season, was named second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press on Saturday. The honor, his sixth All-Pro nod in the past nine years, comes as the Steelers prepare to host the Houston Texans in a wild-card round game Monday night at Acrisure Stadium.
Heyward tied for the team lead with seven tackles in last week’s win over the Baltimore Ravens, increasing his season total to 78, his third-most in a single season. But asked this week to assess his year overall, Heyward gave himself an “incomplete.”
A likely Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate someday, Heyward has one area of his resume still in need of enhancement: postseason success.
The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since reaching the 2016 AFC Championship game and have a current streak of six postseason losses. As the team’s second-oldest player behind only 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers, Heyward acknowledged he might not get many more bites at the playoff apple.
“The main focus is trying to win a game,” Heyward said. “Can’t control what’s happened in the past. My goal is to try to win a game now, and that’s all we can control. I think worrying about what’s happened in the past doesn’t do anybody any good.”
Heyward was voted first-team All-Pro four times (2017, ’19, ’21 and ’24) and now second-team twice (2020 and ’25). He was the only Steelers player named All-Pro this year.
Along with his 3 1/2 sacks, six pass defenses and one forced fumble, he also plays on special teams and last week joined the offense as added muscle for the short-yardage “tush push.” And he does that all while mentoring a young defensive line that, admittedly, has adopted some of his ways.
“He’s had a special career,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “It needs no endorsement from me. He displays why he’s special not only every weekend but every day. He is a Steeler through and through. … He cares hard. Got big shoulders. He wants the responsibility of leading. He got trained by some awesome men of football a generation ago.”
His teammates openly tease him about his age, with T.J. Watt playfully referring to Heyward as a 45-year-old after last week’s win. Heyward entered the league in 2011, one year after the Steelers faced Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV.
He’s a rare link to the past.
“I love having reunion weekends and seeing Cam’s former teammates here,” Tomlin said. “I love messing with him that way. But those guys — those middle-aged guys like Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith — they view Cam’s career with great pride because they were impactful in terms of his growth and development. And it’s cool from their perspective to watch him do it with young guys like Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black, for example.”
Harmon is 22, Black is 23 and Benton is 24. They’ve witnessed Heyward’s ways, such as chasing ball carriers further than many other defensive linemen willingly go.
“That’s why you see me doing it now,” Benton said. “It starts in practice with him turning to run. The young guys see it on film. You see people start to change. I’ve learned from him. … I would do it in college, but it’s like a 5-yard burst. But getting all the way to the ball in practice, that kind of waterfalls down to everybody.”
Another lesson Heyward imparted was that nothing is guaranteed. The Steelers have reached the playoffs for the 10th time since his rookie year, but they’ve gone 1-8 combined in his previous postseason games.
“I think we’ve been open about that,” Heyward said. “From a young guy to an old guy, you don’t know what your career is going to entail. You’ve got to make the most of every opportunity you get.”
